Archive for the ‘Culture’ Category

I’m going to suggest something that might seem strange, backwards or childish on an intelligent political blog: I’m going to review a video game.

Don’t worry, it isn’t going to be very soon, so I will still be able to devote myself to the Liberal cause 100% in preperation for the coming elections. However, there is this feeling that video games are for children, and to fulfil some childish urge to be impulsive and murder as many people as is possible.

I’d like to write a review that challenges that.

To me, video games are an art form on par with fiction, music, and of course paintings. Whilst there is no denying that, sometimes, it is fun to stick on Grand Theft Auto and rev round at hundreds of miles per hour, video games also reflect the political and social ideas of the time, as well as reflecting the values of the person/people that made the game.

I would like to start with Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker as it is the natural antidote of the Modern Warfare’s and Grand Theft Auto’s of our time. Although it is a game about war, it is by far the most anti-war piece of work you could possibly view, questioning the philosophical basis of soldiers being tools of the state and the like. The game also focuses on a period of time when Private Military Companies started to proliferate around the world, and all the moral implications that go along with that. On the one hand, they are independent of any state so there are fewer dangers of soldiers being used as “tools of the government” or for political purposes. However, on the other hand, it brings about the issues of a war economy, and warring for profit.

I feel it is the perfect chance to defend an art form, that so many groups ridicule. There are a lot of voices out there saying how disgusting some games (appropriately labelled 18+) are, yet failing to acknowledge equivalents exist in writing, films and other artwork. And while video games give the player choice, even a game like Modern Warfare 2 can show the horrors of your actions.

So, hopefully a week after June 17 2010 (the release date of the latest Metal Gear Solid Game), you will see a brand spanking, intelligent, review on these pages. And yes, I know the game isn’t titled Metal Gear Solid 5, but this was the original title for it. And as far as I’m concerned, it is the true sibling to Metal Gear Solid 4 😉